Biden says Hamas attack echoed 'worst ravages of ISIS'

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel echoed the "worst ravages of ISIS," after more than 1,400 people were killed, including at least 21 U.S. citizens.

Hamas unleashed "pure, unadulterated evil upon the world" in their attack, Biden said. 

"The state of Israel was born to be a safe place for Jewish People around the world," Biden said. "I've long said that if Israel didn't exist, we'd have to invent it. While it may not feel that way today, Israel must again be a safe place for the Jewish people. I promise you that we are going to do everything in our power to make sure it will be."

Biden also defended the Palestinian people.

"The vast majority of Palestinian citizens are not Hamas. Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people," he said. 

However, a July 2023 poll from the Washington Institute think tank shows that 58% of Gazans have at least a somewhat positive view of Hamas, and 71% for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is considered to be more radical than Hamas.

Biden landed in Israel on Wednesday as riots rack the region after an explosion at a hospital in Gaza. Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip, blames Israel for the incident and claims it killed hundreds of people. The claims have not been substantiated. 

Israel says the rocket came from Gaza and released an intercepted conversation with Hamas terrorists saying that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is responsible for it.

Arab leaders, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi canceled their meetings with Biden after the hospital was hit.

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